Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton recently developed the phrase “deaths of despair” to describe the sudden rise in deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug abuse. Ross Douthat summarizes the details of a recent Senate Joint Economic Committee that charts the scale of this tragedy: “A doubling from 22.7 deaths of despair per 100,000 Americans in 2000 to 45.8 per 100,000 in 2017.” Such self-destroying trends in America are brutal facts we must all face.

Ten years ago a protest movement began in America called the Tea Party. The various tea parties that dotted the nation insisted on a set of demands: Stop President Obama’s health care law; tame the national debt; and restore responsible government. Several Republicans were elected under the Tea Party banner. But, the Tea Party movement is dead, no longer a factor in the Republican Party’s ideology.

Despite everything that has occurred over the last five years, the United States remains the only major world power. The events leading up to World War I and World War II proved that isolationism is not a viable foreign policy. After World War II, the US put together a series of alliances and economic entities to move the world towards relative peace and economic prosperity. Through the decades of the Cold War, those systems have worked. But today, the US position is being challenged by China and, to a lesser extent, Russia. China’s growing military and economic power pose a genuine threat to the national security of the US. Time will tell whether the trade strategies President Trump is pursuing will work. But there are two areas where the US can learn from both history and common sense—Russia under Vladimir Putin and Afghanistan.

In last week’s Issues in Perspective, I explored the topic of thinking biblically about space exploration. Human beings are the only creatures created in God’s image. Among other things, that means humans represent God. We are God’s dominion stewards over His world (see Genesis 1:26ff). We have been given the authority to rule over it, to explore it, and use it as good stewards. But, given this dominion authority, human sin remains the essential challenge.

That anti-Semitism is in resurgence is a well-documented fact. The cause of this resurgence is not as clear. In this Perspective I seek to document the rather frightening evidence of growing anti-Semitism and then speculate on its causes and why this is an important issue for us as Christians.

The current American immigration crisis is exacerbated by the two extremes that dominate the debate. The Democratic side often stresses repudiating the entire immigration structure, including detention camps, the deportation of non-criminal aliens, and “decriminalizing illegal entry and extending benefits to undocumented immigrants.” On the other extreme are those Republicans who deny that there is a crisis. The US has no responsibility to maintain humane conditions in the detention camps, especially for children. The migrant camp conditions are not inhumane and there is no moral responsibility to keep “vulnerable people, children above all, in the most humane conditions possible when their detention is required”

The American experiment in democracy is wrapped around precious terms such as rights and liberties: The freedom of expression; the free exercise of religion; due process rights such as legal representation; and, because of the diversity of America, principled pluralism. It is my argument that all of these freedoms are under siege. Each is being challenged by a Postmodern culture that values attaining individual autonomy through outright coercion and enforcing ideological intolerance in the name of selective exclusivity. Such developments are altering the American experiment—for the worse.

God’s Word identifies a false kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, ruled over by Satan (meaning “adversary”), which parallels and challenges God’s kingdom. It is a kingdom with false philosophies (Colossians 2:8), false religions (1 Corinthians 10:19-20), false ministers (2 Corinthians 11:14-15), false doctrine (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:10) and false Christs (1 John 2:18, 4:3). Satan is therefore leading a rebellion against God. The salient issue in this rebellion is who has the right to rule the universe—God or him? Apparently, one-third of the angelic host joined Satan is his rebellion. Humanity has also joined this rebellion (see Genesis 3) and, before we trust Christ, we are citizens of Satan’s kingdom.

The American higher education system has become totally dependent on its students amassing huge debt to finance a college degree. It is now a system in crisis. The basic statistics explain the nature of the crisis. Josh Mitchell of the Wall Street Journal explains that borrowers owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans, an average of $34,000 per person. Over two million of them have defaulted on their loans in the past six years, and that number grows by 1,400 each day.

In late May 2019, the Supreme Court declined to review Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. That case was about an Indiana law that included a provision that would make it illegal for an abortion provider to perform an abortion in the state when the provider knows that the mother is seeking the abortion solely because of the child’s race, sex, diagnosis of Down syndrome, disability, or related characteristics.